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Author Topic: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error  (Read 20874 times)

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smartbomb2084

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ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« on: February 09, 2013, 07:35:07 am »
Okay all you Touchmaster hating  MegaTechs.... I Got a 15 inch ION EVO with a purple ECS FORCE

motherboard that boots up and hangs at the  'Hardware Monitor" screen showing the -5V as the dreaded -

61.98V.  Removing 'Display Hardware Monitor At Start Up' in SETUP is only a temporary fix... 

Who knows the permanent one?

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2013, 09:46:03 pm »
replace the board.

no, really.

the purple ECS board is the worst board EVER. There is a known fault in the boards where the northbridge overheats on them and gets all weird and flakey. sometimes you can re-do the thermals on it and cool it with a fan, but it's more of a bandaid on a much biggee problem. Buddy at an AMI/Merit tech seminar said replacing the regulators can sometimes help fix it, but it's a cheap trash board to begin with.

i'm putting together a replacement board list that i'll post up here in the next day or so. you can search e-bay and find replacement boards for about $30 the "megatouch" branded ones are like 300. don't bother with them.

smartbomb2084

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2013, 09:39:36 pm »
Sorry... it is a trick question that I know the answer to.

The board is not lost... just tie the -5V motherboard input to ground and bye bye error.

By doing this the motherboard sees the -5V status during POST as 0V instead of some floating value.

ION and FORCE Megatouch motherboards do not use -5V and the OEM power supplies don't supply it either.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2013, 09:41:48 pm by smartbomb2084 »

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2013, 09:56:37 pm »


i'm putting together a replacement board list that i'll post up here in the next day or so. you can search e-bay and find replacement boards for about $30 the "megatouch" branded ones are like 300. don't bother with them.

I know of two "ION" boards that can be used that is not the "megatouch" branded ones. I would be curious to know if theres more. Ive tried close to ten nforce2 and nforce4 mobo's.

BTW, I love this new section. But im finding it hard to resist "inappropriate" information. >:D

smartbomb2084

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2013, 07:37:14 am »
So do these non-Merit Approved Motherboards fit into their respective game cabinets without any major

modifications to game's mounting or wiring?

Not sure what you mean by 'inappropriate' information...

How is all of this great info inappropriate?

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2013, 10:39:19 am »
So do these non-Merit Approved Motherboards fit into their respective game cabinets without any major

modifications to game's mounting or wiring?

Not sure what you mean by 'inappropriate' information...

How is all of this great info inappropriate?

The two that i know of will fit into the cabinet with the purple mobo. Great info to some, may be not great info to others. Therefore "inappropriate" .

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2013, 11:16:27 am »
all atx boards are the same size with the same mounting holes. (which is why it's called the "ATX standard".) Read  up on it, it's a pretty strict set of instructions that state certain components cant be over a certain height in this area or another... be of a specific size/shape.

the boards i have swapped have been either - same/or similar models, or boards from a different line (ie, board used in aurora for an EVO) due to the OS, the boards have to be pretty close or have a specific version of software to work (driver sets installed in the OS)

...and because boards (read most boards) conform to the ATX standard, they fit just fine. no modifications of the wiring are needed. They all plug into the headers just the same.

sometimes a little trimming of the northbridge heatsink is needed (for a particular force replacement), but not a big deal. you just clip a 1/4 inch off of 2 or 3 fins to clear a bracket.

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2013, 01:04:43 pm »
lilshawn, There are many forms of atx. For example, flex atx, micro atx, and standard atx all have different mounting through holes. A perfect example is the ion cabinets made for the purple ecs mobo is atx where the cabinets for the asus mobo is micro atx. The force board is flex atx.

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2013, 09:40:45 pm »
lilshawn, There are many forms of atx. For example, flex atx, micro atx, and standard atx all have different mounting through holes. A perfect example is the ion cabinets made for the purple ecs mobo is atx where the cabinets for the asus mobo is micro atx. The force board is flex atx.

I used ATX as an all-encompassing attributive, not as and explicit identifier.


mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2013, 09:56:12 pm »
lilshawn, There are many forms of atx. For example, flex atx, micro atx, and standard atx all have different mounting through holes. A perfect example is the ion cabinets made for the purple ecs mobo is atx where the cabinets for the asus mobo is micro atx. The force board is flex atx.

I used ATX as an all-encompassing attributive, not as and explicit identifier.

Im sure thats not what the poster asked. He wanted to know if the boards you and I have mentioned, will fit in the exact place as the board he possible wants to replace. In reference to the boards i know of, One is atx like the purple ecs and should mount right up, the other would replace the asus board.

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #10 on: February 11, 2013, 10:22:28 pm »
lilshawn, There are many forms of atx. For example, flex atx, micro atx, and standard atx all have different mounting through holes. A perfect example is the ion cabinets made for the purple ecs mobo is atx where the cabinets for the asus mobo is micro atx. The force board is flex atx.

I used ATX as an all-encompassing attributive, not as and explicit identifier.

Im sure thats not what the poster asked. He wanted to know if the boards you and I have mentioned, will fit in the exact place as the board he possible wants to replace. In reference to the boards i know of, One is atx like the purple ecs and should mount right up, the other would replace the asus board.

as ill fitting as the boards are to begin with, yes, they bolt right up to the original bosses.

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #11 on: February 11, 2013, 10:45:45 pm »
Ok well one board is the biostar M7NCG. Way better board then the purple ECS. Hard to find though.

smartbomb2084

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2013, 08:26:23 am »
So that means you can  put a gold ASUS board in an EVO cabinet that came with a purple ECS  board without any modification?

Doesn't the BIOS chip on the board determine whether its a MERIT board (MERIT BIOS chip) or a generic 'off the shelf' one with some other BIOS chip.

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2013, 10:01:55 am »
I replaced the purple ecs with the asus board and I had to add a mounting post so the board fit in the right place. The purple board is an extended atx where the asus is a micro atx so the puple board is wider. I included a pic marked to show where the pourple board mounting hole are and how the asus fits in its place. I also had to make a cut out in the IO board bracket to clear the SB heatsink. lilshawn mentioned trimming the heatsink itself, but i didnt want to mess with taking the heatsink off.

Also, its not the bios that determines if the board will work. Its the boards chipset device ID's that have to match.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2013, 10:35:56 am »
the one i found to replace Purple death, (Asus A7N8X-VM) is the same size and everything.

i just used a pair of tin snips to make a small cut-out in the I/O bracket because the power connector is in a different spot. (middle of the board.)

I had a bit of an issue with the audio not working at first, but i just booted up the machine with the old drive. Re-installing the software got it working again.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #15 on: February 12, 2013, 10:56:56 am »
the one i found to replace Purple death, (Asus A7N8X-VM) is the same size and everything.

i just used a pair of tin snips to make a small cut-out in the I/O bracket because the power connector is in a different spot. (middle of the board.)

I had a bit of an issue with the audio not working at first, but i just booted up the machine with the old drive. Re-installing the software got it working again.

Ive used the A7N8X-VM aswell, but linux/centos fails to load lm-sensors for the ITE io chip because the linux/centos script is expecting the winbond io chip. So during loading you will see [FAILED]
Unless you manually replace the script :cheers:  >:D

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2013, 12:20:47 pm »
the one i found to replace Purple death, (Asus A7N8X-VM) is the same size and everything.

i just used a pair of tin snips to make a small cut-out in the I/O bracket because the power connector is in a different spot. (middle of the board.)

I had a bit of an issue with the audio not working at first, but i just booted up the machine with the old drive. Re-installing the software got it working again.

Ive used the A7N8X-VM aswell, but linux/centos fails to load lm-sensors for the ITE io chip because the linux/centos script is expecting the winbond io chip. So during loading you will see [FAILED]
Unless you manually replace the script :cheers:  >:D

Yeah, not a big deal though...The damn system doesn't track any of the temps voltages or RPM's anyways. (nice if it did and shut down when overheated.)

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2013, 01:39:26 pm »


Yeah, not a big deal though...The damn system doesn't track any of the temps voltages or RPM's anyways. (nice if it did and shut down when overheated.)

Yeah I know, I just dont like seeing [FAILED] everytime the system booted up. Its not hard to edit the script/module and add "it87" to get rid of it.

smartbomb2084

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2013, 08:56:12 am »
So this board works 100% with no glitches even with the 'failed' loading error?


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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #19 on: February 13, 2013, 09:53:13 am »
So this board works 100% with no glitches even with the 'failed' loading error?

I never noticed any problems. Its not going to be a direct fit into your ion evo cab though.

smartbomb2084

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #20 on: February 14, 2013, 08:04:41 am »
Nothing is ever easy if I am involved...

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #21 on: February 14, 2013, 09:14:44 pm »


i'm putting together a replacement board list that i'll post up here in the next day or so. you can search e-bay and find replacement boards for about $30 the "megatouch" branded ones are like 300. don't bother with them.

So where is this list lilshawn? One board is hardly a list. Also, are there any compatiable force boards on this list? Ive found one, but it seems post 2007.5  knocked it out and requires some patching.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #22 on: February 14, 2013, 09:21:31 pm »
ive been trying to upload files to the repository for the past few days but they never show up.

(thats why the stickys are still empty too.)

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #23 on: February 17, 2013, 11:35:50 am »
ive been trying to upload files to the repository for the past few days but they never show up.

(thats why the stickys are still empty too.)

Cant you just post the list of boards in its own sticky thread. Not sure why you need to upload anything. I just want to know if you found another Force board because i have a radion i just replaced the crt with a lcd that needs a new mobo but considering its going to cost me atleast $30-$40 to buy a broken board just to see if i can fix the board i have. So I might aswell just buy a different board if you know of one. As ive said earlier I know of one but it only works with 2007.5 and wont work with anything above unless I patch something out.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2013, 11:37:23 am by mahkeymike »

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #24 on: February 17, 2013, 12:59:08 pm »
ive been trying to upload files to the repository for the past few days but they never show up.

(thats why the stickys are still empty too.)

Cant you just post the list of boards in its own sticky thread. Not sure why you need to upload anything. I just want to know if you found another Force board because i have a radion i just replaced the crt with a lcd that needs a new mobo but considering its going to cost me atleast $30-$40 to buy a broken board just to see if i can fix the board i have. So I might aswell just buy a different board if you know of one. As ive said earlier I know of one but it only works with 2007.5 and wont work with anything above unless I patch something out.

the ECS board used in the radion/evo/fusion/elite/vibe machines was the last of the force line before they switched to ION. if the board is not repairable and you can't obtain a direct replacement, you can attempt to switch it with an AMPTRON with the same "intel 810e" chipset board and has the same C-Media CMI8738 audio chipset as the ECS.

that said, problem is that the boards are all several years old and nothing new is being produced with those chipsets anymore. And,like you mentioned, anything used you may find that will work may be no better off than the original board.
Due to being EOL, they have abandoned updating the software to support new hardware, opting to discontinue the force line and continue on with the ION line. This means we have more luck with finding new ION boards that are supported.

Ion boards will not work with force I/O boards. I'm currently looking at obtaining some ION I/O boards and attempting a swap with them to try and upgrade them to ION technology. It's been really backburnered due to the fact that my feeling is that AMI will no longer be supporting ION line beyond the 2013 year. (having already abandoned the force line at 2011 and not even releasing a 2011.5) If they decide to release ION 2014 software (which isn't looking good since they refer to the 2013 software as "legacy"),
our company will not go "live" so perhaps I will revisit doing the conversion with some more gusto.

in the mean time throw a handful of 1000 uF and 470 uF caps at it. They are a pretty tough board. I've had more successes than failures with the boards. I have 3 ECS force boards in a pile that couldn't be resurrected by re-capping them in the past 5 years...Ive had 4  asus ION boards so far THIS YEAR.

mahkeymike

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #25 on: February 17, 2013, 03:48:49 pm »
the ECS board used in the radion/evo/fusion/elite/vibe machines was the last of the force line before they switched to ION. if the board is not repairable and you can't obtain a direct replacement, you can attempt to switch it with an AMPTRON with the same "intel 810e" chipset board and has the same C-Media CMI8738 audio chipset as the ECS.

I have a ECS board with same i810e and cmi8738. Works up to 2007.5. 2008 and up wont install without patching files in the iso. Havent figured out yet what device ID is causing it to be blacklisted.


Ion boards will not work with force I/O boards. I'm currently looking at obtaining some ION I/O boards and attempting a swap with them to try and upgrade them to ION technology.

This is not true. I have used the old classic force IO boards and the evo force IO boards with ION mobo's and ION keys with no problems.


It's been really backburnered due to the fact that my feeling is that AMI will no longer be supporting ION line beyond the 2013 year.


My Sig begs to differ  :cheers:  >:D


in the mean time throw a handful of 1000 uF and 470 uF caps at it. They are a pretty tough board. I've had more successes than failures with the boards. I have 3 ECS force boards in a pile that couldn't be resurrected by re-capping them in the past 5 years

In my other thread I mentioned that regulators were burnt and SMD ceramic caps were broken off and another chip had a leg bent touching another. Its probably got soo many things wrong not worth trying to fix. I would need another board for cheap that maybe just has a bad onboard video chip that i know i could replace those other parts.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2013, 03:50:47 pm by mahkeymike »

lilshawn

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #26 on: February 17, 2013, 03:55:39 pm »
ahh! i see i see.  :lol It hadn't even dawned on me we where talking about that same board. little bit of thread creep going on here.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #27 on: February 17, 2013, 05:00:52 pm »
ahh! i see i see.  :lol It hadn't even dawned on me we where talking about that same board. little bit of thread creep going on here.

Yeah I had originally pulled the board from the radion because I was going to convert it into an ION with a RX board for a friend. I had then sold the force board that was in it. Friend procastinated on buying the radion and the force board i sold got returned broken and here i am..lol. Not sure what to do now. Listed on CL and it got flagged. So havent tried that since. No idea why it was flagged, It had all official parts and legit key.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2013, 05:06:32 pm by mahkeymike »

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #28 on: March 08, 2013, 09:08:36 am »
As an actual pro tech on Merit games with 31 years experiance I can tell you to simply go to Merits tech support web tech support/games page and to troubleshooting and theres a list of tech alerts for boards, hard drives and monitor fixes. You can also call them direct at their tech support hot line. I own about 18 of their games and repair and sell them still even tho I,m semi-retired now  :cheers:.
Theres a VERY good board repair source on ebay. His name is Dave under Megatouch store. DO NOT attempt to repair a board if you don't have serious experiance doing so you,ll be  :hissy: :angry: :timebomb:. You can easly "toast" a board  :'( !! I have the equipment to. Even changing a cap on them takes serious knowlege how to without damage to the board. I have a HAKKO 470B desoldering and a 936 soldering station and know how to use them correctly. There's tricks to use them correctly and I was shown by a electronics proffesor @ a local collage. No, I don't take outside board repair work. Dave does and anyone bad mouths  :blah:  him they are clueless !! When I was the service / route manager and owned 40% before they sold out ( I took the parts,equipment and wharehouse stock in trade as my payout) in Islamorada in the keys of the biggest route from Marrathon to Homestead I used him exclusivly as I was to busy to repair boards.
I do now but still use Dave when I have a  :angry:*##@& :timebomb:* board driving me nuts. He WILL NOT take calls. Email him for info to send a board from Ebay.
Merit has a page that crosses software with keys.
Merit games are FAR superior to the Williams version which pretty much copied Merits games. Earning wise Merit blew them not just outta the water, outta the galaxy !! Every one we repalced a Merit with we immediatly got complaints.
Tech wise the same.
Given Williams got in late and went out of business  :banghead: should kind make it clear.
My Wife won't even THINK about selling hers and when it has problems you can guese which one is #1 on my repair list !! I keep a spare board and harddrive on hand just for hers  :cheers: !!!

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #29 on: August 27, 2013, 01:46:25 pm »
I'm having good luck using the RX board on the IONs.  I've had several RXs on the street for a few years now and none have come in with board problems and that is awesome for any megatouch board.  The RX boards can be found on ebay for about $100 or so.  It's a little peace of mind when I have machines over 4 hours away from the shop.    I think you have to run 2010 and later software, but that was just a rumor I heard.  Use a new sata hard drive and put the 300 watt power supply in there and it boots right up the first time and seems to work well.  Machine is running much cooler than the egg cooker ecs p.o.s.

I'm not praising this board at all.  I hate the fact that the cpu is soldered to the board.  Thanks merit.

A few wires and harnesses can be removed when using the rx board.

You do have to get creative when mounting the i/o board.

I've tried the other asus board mentioned above with mixed results.  You have to fight some loading and audio issues.

Has anyone heard ANY info about 2014 ION updates?  I won't go "live" until I have to and I also enjoy still being able to link these older merits to the jukebox.  I won't bother asking about JVL updates. ::)

I'll take some pics of the next one I do which should be within a week.  Two IONs in the shop right now and I just ordered some more boards. <rant>  I can't remember the last time there wasn't a merit in for repair.  One goes back out, two come back in.  For years its been like that. :angry:   

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #30 on: August 27, 2013, 05:29:44 pm »
I tossed the RX board swap idea around, but never tried. For reference it is a Intel D945GCLF2D with a replaced low profile heatsink and fan to cool it.

as far as I know 2013 was to be the end of the ion line, but i kinda heard sometime earlier this year that there might be a 2014, but i'm not holding my breath. the 2013 ion software is labeled under a "legacy software" header on the AMI website. sounds like end of the road to me.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #31 on: August 27, 2013, 08:50:15 pm »
Just got the email that the 2014 ION software is now available.  Updated promo materials on their website now as well.  woo-hoo!!!  More games that people won't play!

14 "new" games. ::)

Thanks for the info on that intel board.

****edit****

Ok, now for a whole new can of worms....  what is the difference between the Intel D945GCLF2D and the Intel D945GCLF   ???   The d945GCLF is stupid cheap.  Less than $40!!! 
« Last Edit: August 27, 2013, 09:02:56 pm by NoRefunds »

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #32 on: August 28, 2013, 12:24:37 am »
I tossed the RX board swap idea around, but never tried. For reference it is a Intel D945GCLF2D with a replaced low profile heatsink and fan to cool it.

as far as I know 2013 was to be the end of the ion line, but i kinda heard sometime earlier this year that there might be a 2014, but i'm not holding my breath. the 2013 ion software is labeled under a "legacy software" header on the AMI website. sounds like end of the road to me.
Ive been running 2014 in my sig for over a year now..lol. I guess I should upgrade to 2015. >:D

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #33 on: August 31, 2013, 02:48:05 pm »
Ok, now for a whole new can of worms....  what is the difference between the Intel D945GCLF2D and the Intel D945GCLF   ???   The d945GCLF is stupid cheap.  Less than $40!!!

looks like on the 2D version they just upped the amount of usb ports on the board (+2 internals) and added gigabit on the ethernet.

while the USB ports might not matter (i think there was extra anyways)... the change to the ethernet may come with a different chipset that would require a different driver.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #34 on: August 31, 2013, 07:31:21 pm »
D945GCLF2 works straight out of the box. I cant verify the "D" version though.

It looks like the only difference in the "D" version is that it has a built in tv encoder. All other chipsets look to be the same.

I also forgot to mention that the GCLF is a single core atom , where the GCLF2/D has a dual core atom.
« Last Edit: September 01, 2013, 11:18:31 am by mahkeymike »

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #35 on: June 27, 2014, 01:08:37 pm »
Lilshawn,

How does swapping the Intel Atom board work for the AMD powered ECS board?

That seems ideal to me, but it seems strange such a major change (AMD to Intel) works out of the box, but it seem processor doesn't matter, all you need is the right chipset (by reading this thread).  Since this is the only option that you can still buy brand new versions of the Intel D945GCLF2 (granted they are a bit north of $100 new - but peace of mind is worth that), I may order a couple just to have them.

Do you have to have newer than a certain version (like 2009 or newer) of the software for an AMD board to Intel board swap to work? 

Does someone have a 3/4 angle picture of the board from Merit?  I would like to see what the low profile heat-sinks look like to see if I can find the same ones.

Thanks,
Bill

EDIT:
In looking up the GCLF2 vs the GCLF2D the 2 looks to already have lower profile heat syncs and S-VIDEO (which seems oddly backwards to me) 2D does not have S-VIDEO, and looks to have higher profile heat syncs.  If anyone is familiar with these boards, can you confirm?
« Last Edit: June 27, 2014, 02:48:59 pm by billf1 »

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #36 on: June 27, 2014, 02:27:18 pm »
Lilshawn,

How does swapping the Intel Atom board work for the AMD powered ECS board?

That seems ideal to me, but it seems strange such a major change (AMD to Intel) works out of the box, but it seem processor doesn't matter, all you need is the right chipset (by reading this thread).  Since this is the only option that you can still buy brand new versions of the Intel D945GCLF2 (granted they are a bit north of $100 new - but peace of mind is worth that), I may order a couple just to have them.

Do you have to have newer than a certain version (like 2009 or newer) of the software for an AMD board to Intel board swap to work? 

Does someone have a 3/4 angle picture of the board from Merit?  I would like to see what the low profile heat-sinks look like to see if I can find the same ones.

Thanks,
Bill

when merit released the "RX" machine, it contained an Intel board. the software was updated accordingly starting with 2009? (i believe that was the version) with drivers to include the new board.

so if you want to upgrade to the intel board you must be sure you are also running the game version that includes these new board drivers.

unless you know how to patch an older version of game software to have the new drivers....

depending on the machine you intend to insert the board into, you may not even need to have a low profile heatsink, the standard one will work fine. I'm not really sure why they used a low profile heatsink in the RX to be honest, it has a butt load of room in there. The aurora should have lots of room to.

the EVO on the other hand may not fit without the smaller heatsink. (i don't know for sure, i haven't swapped on out in there yet.) but they are available on ebay for a couple bucks if it's an issue.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Low-Profile-Heatsink-Intel-D945GCLF-Atom-Mini-ITX-board-/130303965124?pt=US_CPU_Fans_Heatsinks&hash=item1e56b8b7c4&_uhb=1

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #37 on: June 27, 2014, 04:22:58 pm »
Just for the record a non widescreen AURORA has squat for room inside...as in none....you can barely get the board tray back in after you pull it out.


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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #38 on: June 27, 2014, 05:50:15 pm »
yeah the wires are a little ornery. but there IS room...(at least in the canadian version.) the US version might be different with a bill acceptor in place of the coin box.

would you mind snapping a few pics of your inside for prosperity's sake... i'll do the same.

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Re: ECS ION Motherboard Boot Error
« Reply #39 on: June 27, 2014, 06:15:44 pm »
What I found is an EVO with a bad ECS purple MB.

I had actually found that same low profile CPU Heatsink on the US eBay site, but the part that concerned me some, was that in some pictures the north-bridge heatsink looked just as tall as the CPU Cooler.  I did some reading, and they changed the heatsinks when they made the newer version (the two dual core versions), and the older single core's heat sinks were taller and passive only (no fan), so maybe the picture I saw was from a pre-prod model (because there was a fan - but both heatsinks were tall), but I guess I will just have to cross that hurdle when I get there (if the hurdle is there).

Thanks again for the info.
Bill